Today is Feb 21, International Mother Language Day – an observance held annually worldwide since 2000 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh.
The UN says: “Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage.
All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.”
In Kashmir, the Kashmiri language has also been a victim of the onslaught of modernisation and globalisation. But there is also a silver lining.
“Majrooh Rashid feels that the language can’t perish now”
In the times of globalization when local and minority languages all over the world are giving way to more dominant languages like English, something unusual is happening in Jammu and Kashmir.
The new generation of the Kashmir Valley, born and brought up in the homogenizing environs of media, mobiles and mass culture, is embracing and flaunting its mother tongue-Kashmiri.
Read More on a story about the silent cultural revival in Kashmir.
Kashmir’s ‘Kitab Ghar’: A Lonely Battle To Preserve Literature
It was up in 1985, when Kashmir was peaceful.
Then the bloody rebellion came, heralding decades of bullets and bombs in the valley.
But all the while, a small dusty shop, unnoticed on the Moulana Azad Road in Srinagar, braved everything to keep Kashmir’s literature safe.
Kitab Ghar sold books; which sang songs of peace and told tales of the turbulent days. Now things are changing and guns have fallen almost silent.
Read More about the bookshop which has not let its guard loose in preserving Kashmir’s culture.
‘Journey Of A Professor’ To Revive Kashmir Cinema (in Kashmiri) After Decades
In Kashmir, where cinema halls are either burnt down or turned into hospitals, four persons have come together to revive Kashmiri cinema.
The idea is to revive Kashmiri cinema and through it the fast-dying Kashmiri language.
Most cast members and producers are in their 30s and were brought up in the violent years of 1990s.
Read More about the film which showcases the journey of a professor with a single-minded track, where he abandons everything else other than his literary work.
